Breaking: CDC Officials Meet Flight After Passenger Shows Possible Ebola Symptoms

[magical thyme]

A United Airilines flight from Brussels was met by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials today at Newark Liberty International Airport after a passenger on board believed to be from Liberia exhibited possible signs of Ebola.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cdc-officials-meet-flight-passenger-shows-ebola-symptoms/story?id=25965383

[magical thyme]

1. from another source

A vomiting passenger has prompted the quarantine of United Airlines Flight 998 from Brussels after landing at Newark Liberty International Airport early Saturday afternoon, reports say.

The passenger is believed to be from Libera and was exhibiting signs of the deadly Ebola virus during the seven hour flight with 255 passengers from Belgium, according to WCBS-TV.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/sick-passenger-examined-ebola-newark-airport-article-1.1963383


Father and daughter were traveling. CDC removed them wearing full hazmat gear. The other passengers (and presumably the crew) are currently quarantined on the plane.

[kestrel91316]

5. Nobody is being "quarantined" on the plane. They are just holding them until they can take down

names and contact information for followup in case the two sick people test positive for Ebola. They will know in 1-2 days. At that point, if they have to, they do the informal or formal isolation depending on whether or not the contacts behave like morons.

[magical thyme]

7. that's how they phrased it at the NY Daily News link

"The passengers of a United Airlines flight from Brussels have been quarantined while a medical team examined one of the passengers who may be sick with the Ebola virus."

The ABC news link has since been updated indicating the passengers have been released. Apparently the sick person was already determined to not be contagious.

[kestrel91316]

30. That's just appallingly bad journalism. Nobody is being quarantined. Words have meanings.

Taking down names and cell phone numbers and telling them they will need to keep in touch until CDC knows if those two have Ebola. Standard procedure, just playing it safe.

If either of the ill have Ebola, the contacts will be evaluated for level of contact and then told how to behave for the next 21 days, and checked on personally or spoken to n the phone for 21 days.

[cwydro]

54. CNN phrased it that way too. nt

[kestrel91316]

2. Seems like the hip trendy thing to do in Liberia these days is to hop on a plane to the US as soon

as you get exposed to ebola and can scrape the money for the ticket together.

21 days' quarantine upon entry to the US from any country with ebola would keep us much safer that the current "screening by questionnaire" policy.

[Dreamer Tatum]

3. Why not? Despite what people are howling, ERs cannot turn you away. nt

[pnwmom]

8. Sure they can. An ER sent Duncan away with a script for antibiotics. nt

[Dreamer Tatum]

10. That was out of stupidity, not policy.

An ER cannot turn you away if you can't pay.

[pnwmom]

18. I bet hospitals get rid of lots of non-paying people that way. They gave Duncan "treatment."

Didn't matter what it was, they could say they'd treated him.

[Dreamer Tatum]

20. So you contend that a virus that could easily wipe out millions

would be dismissed by hospitals all over trying to duck the law?

If so, you have a pitiful view of healthcare professionals.

[pnwmom]

21. No, I don't think they were thinking about Ebola. But they damn well better start. n/t

[Dreamer Tatum]

22. Which speaks to my point about protocols being updated. nt

[pnwmom]

25. Are you aware that this hospital staff had just gone through special training on Ebola?

Apparently it didn't take.

[Dreamer Tatum]

43. Let's hope they start taking it seriously. nt

[MrsBrady]

58. Eric Duncan had at first

In my opinion, a bad case of

we're busy along with no insurance itis.


I've had/seen good care and I've had bad care at hospitals.

Sometimes care depends on if they give a damn and/or
want to listen. Prescribing him an antibiotic was to say they
attempted to treat him. The hospital f'ed up. The family called
the CDC.

I live in the DFW area, and while I'm nowhere near the Ivy Apartments,
I have friends who are and people are justifiably concerned.

I'm a child care worker and this gives one pause...even though
we wash all day long, it's impossible to prevent them from spitting
up, sucking on your hand, coughing on you, etc....

When one gets bodily fluids on you all day long, it either breaks
you or you get over the ick factor.

[magical thyme]

13. everybody is ultimately either admitted or sent away, with or without a prescription

The ER didn't turn him away at the door.

The admitted him and they examined him. They missed something that represents an entirely reversed priority from historical practice -- what for years have been considered mild symptoms to treat/release with advice now require significant followup on travel history and potential isolation.

An understandable mistake that probably has already happened dozens or hundreds of times and was bound, sooner or later, to result in this scenario.

[morningfog]

4. Oh yeah. Someone facing death is concerned with hip trends.

[rocktivity]

9. Negative blood tests before and after a 21-day waiting period

before you can travel from an ebola-affected country would work even better.


rocktivity

[LostInAnomie]

38. Yep. It's going to keep happening too.

People with means are going to keep abusing the system until we actually put some real barriers in place.

[Warren DeMontague]

56. We need to do what other countries have done and stop letting visa holders in from those 3 countries

for now.

[arthritisR_US]

63. The first chap came to the US to be with his

fiancé. I don't think his intentions were malicious.

[rocktivity]

6. It's not enough to stop people who are showing symptoms

We also need to stop people who are infected but not showing symptoms from getting tickets in the first place. How about requiring travelers from ebola-affected countries to pass two blood tests taken three weeks apart?


rocktivity[/g]

[uppityperson]

12. What if they were exposed prior to the second test?

[rocktivity]

15. Well, that's what the second test is for

But of course, that would only work if the the virus is detectable during the incubation period.


rocktivity

[uppityperson]

27. And there lies the problem. I do not know that the virus is detectable during incubation.

I have read that it builds up the longer the disease goes on, is quite low at the beginning and a lot at the end.

[rocktivity]

33. If it's detectable, great. If not, EVERYONE wanting to travel

from an Ebola-affected country should have to wait three weeks before being able to buy a plane ticket.

We'd need a test like one for THC that could detect such low levels it was self-defeating -- a positive result could easily have been the result of a contact high.


rocktivity

[magical thyme]

19. if both tests are in the US, then they won't have been exposed

so I'm guessing Rocktivity is suggesting testing on arrival and testing after 3 weeks.

But if they are infected, they will be showing symptoms before 3 weeks, so that test becomes superfluous. They will already either be past the incubation period and sick or negative.

[rocktivity]

24. Both tests would be conducted in the Ebola-affected countries

before the traveler can buy a ticket and/or visa.

Surely it would be cheaper to send the countries the resources needed to do such testing than set up a quarantine program here.


rocktivity

[MineralMan]

11. There are daily flights from Monrovia, Liberia to Brussels.

From there, people take other flights to other places. There are no direct flights from Liberia to the USA, as far as I've been able to determine.

[magical thyme]

14. nobody said it was a direct flight

I quoted the article.

[MineralMan]

17. I didn't say you did.

I was just adding information to the thread. I do that sometimes.

[drray23]

16. i am there right now

A few gates away waiting for my flight to munich.
Not observing any activity yet.

[magical thyme]

23. I think it's all over. Update at link says passengers have been released

"After the passenger in question was off the plane and it was determined he was not contagious, the rest of the passengers were allowed off, a source with knowledge of the situation told ABC News.

United Airlines released a brief statement after the flight arrived.

"Upon arrival at Newark Airport from Brussels, medical professionals instructed that customers and crew of United flight 988 remain on board until they could assist an ill customer," the statement said. "We are working with authorities and will accommodate our customers as quickly as we can.""

[cwydro]

26. CNN says they're still on board.

[magical thyme]

28. who knows....

CNN still didn't have any coverage by the time ABCnews had their 1st update. So they may be a little behind the curve on this one.

Although faster is not necessarily more accurate...

[cwydro]

31. Yeah I saw it on abc first too

Would like to know what the hell is going on.

[B2G]

32. He IS contagious

He's symptomatic.

What the fuck is going on?

[JimDandy]

52. Vomiting can present from non-contagious causes

such as cancer, alcohol consumption, motion sickness etc.

[magical thyme]

61. also stroke occurred to me

the passenger sitting next to him said that he said he felt like his eyes were "floating around his head." He never heard or saw him vomiting, and never heard anything to suggest he had vomited.

[JimDandy]

62. I didn't know that was a side effect of stroke,

Learn something new often here on DU.

[Adsos Letter]

35. He was ill enough to show symptoms but wasn't contagious?

I understand the disease gets more contagious the sicker one gets, but I thought that once you start showing symptoms the disease has become contagious, even if mildly so?

I'm getting increasingly confused, which is normal for me...

[liberalhistorian]

44. Maybe it's not Ebola?

You do realize that not every person who's flying in from Africa and who doesn't feel well or is ill has Ebola, right? And that just because the hysterical media whips is up into a frenzy over every single possible case in order to increase their ratings, that doesn't mean that each and every such possibility is Ebola, right? The amount of nationalistic jingoistic scare-mongering hysteria on this thread is truly shocking and disturbing.

[B2G]

29. He's not contagious?? What the hell?

He's showing symptoms. He hasn't been tested.

"After the passenger in question was off the plane and it was determined he was not contagious, the rest of the passengers were allowed off, a source with knowledge of the situation told ABC News."

[magical thyme]

34. confused reporting?

or, depending on the symptoms (one report says vomiting, the other says flu-like, but sore throat is an early symptom), a positive rapid strep test?

Who knows?!?

I'm betting confused reporting at this point.

[nashville_brook]

36. see, this is the part of the movie 10 minutes before the exponential vector graphic

we're not quite there yet, but we're coming up on it.

makes me want to want to watch Outbreak again…for the first time

(i'm feeling a little virus punchy today -- glad the CDC met this guy at the plane, really!)

[PCIntern]

37. This is the part of the movie where they meet THIS plane, but

miss the other case coming in on the OTHER plane...

[customerserviceguy]

39. So

how many more scares is it going to take before nations that care more about protecting their populations than some possible hurt feelings of some West Africans actually stop accepting planeloads of potential sick people into their territories?

[BlindTiresias]

41. never?

the cdc said it was out of the question.

[customerserviceguy]

42. The President needs to step in here

And start giving some Executive Orders. As for other countries, like Belgium, that's up to their governments to choose when to start protecting their citizens. We can refuse landing rights for aircraft that come from nations that choose to ignore this disease.

I've got to be wondering what the pilots' and flight attendants' unions are thinking about this? They're probably way more exposed to this than the average casual traveler.

[Sheepshank]

45. as if flights were the only way out of Liberia?

how about a train or a cattle car or a bike or cab ride to a neighboring country and THEN a flight out...maybe even directly to the USA. Attempting to shut down travel is insanely stupid and will not gain the desired effect.

Best way to protect USA, is to stop the epidemic at it's source so there are no longer infected people travelling

[customerserviceguy]

46. You'd apply the travel ban

to those whose passports showed recent exit from the affected countries.

Yes, stopping the epidemic in West Africa is essential, but so is containing it there. We aren't going to be able to do squat for Africa if Ebola fighting tools (medicines, hazmat suits, etc.) are needed in Western nations to combat infections arising in those countries.

Can you imagine the political backlash to any elected official who left his own country, state, or city underprepared, just because some stuff got sent to Liberia?

[Sheepshank]

50. How porus do you suppose the border are?

again...the travel restriction would work maybe for flights but no other way. the sick person travels out of Liberia to Ghana, Sierra Leone, or Nigeria and is responsible for infecting the residents of that nation. that national then hops on a business lifht out of the country to USA....it is unrealistic to think that we in the USA will be safe merely because Liberians will be banned from leaving the country.

[customerserviceguy]

64. Clearly, we will add nations to the list

My solution is to just do it to all of Africa, except the places that can show that they have had no cases.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if China stopped people from the US from coming over there, as we've had a case of Ebola here. They're well known for being pretty damned strict about this kind of thing, look at their polcies about AIDS/HIV.

[Sheepshank]

66. Africa is a tad bigger than Rhode Island. Your idea is impractical

[uppityperson]

48. How many more false scares until paranoia demands some sort of ban on plane travel?

[customerserviceguy]

59. When Ebola is over half the globe

You might just see that.

[Sheepshank]

51. The only way to protect our own, is to stop the infection at it's source

protecting "our" people starts with stopping the infection abroad, so infected people are no longer travelling.

[uppityperson]

53. In which case, and I agree, money, equipment, people all need to be sent there to help

stop the spread and treat those who are sick. Several countries, including the USA, are doing so. A place for all of us to help is donate to MSF, Doctors Without Borders as they are doing much of the health care and education.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025620971
The donation page is at that link.

[customerserviceguy]

60. We need a two pronged approach in this situation

Treatment and prevention. Prevention is accomplished in part by isolation.

[Sheepshank]

65. and just how do you intend to isolate all the nations that have ebola?

...and please, keep it real

[seveneyes]

40. Heck of a job screening

What are the odds of a very ill passenger coming out of a hot zone might have Ebola?

[uppityperson]

49. Sounds like they did it right, checked out a potentially sick person and determined it was not

ebola. Are you wanting them to not do so?

[magical thyme]

47. another report that he wasn't contagious. Maybe he tested positive for something else

or maybe he had a pre-existing condition that they were able to confirm.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-responds-to-sick-passenger-on-international-flight/

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention responded Saturday to a report of a sick passenger on an international flight that landed in Newark, New Jersey. Passengers were later told that the sick man wasn't contagious."

[cwydro]

55. He may have been airsick for all we know

[magical thyme]

57. that too. nt